Comic strip's humor proves no joking matter
My friend Chris Schroen, who until recently was the proprietor of one of the finest weblogs out there, brought this to my attention a few days ago. At this time, I laughed it off as the reaction of some crackpot with too much time on their hands. Now that the Council on American-Islamic Relations has gotten ahold of this, it would seem that more than one individual crackpot is involved. The silliness has been institutionalized.
What's the fuss about? This B.C. comic strip is, to the sensibilities of some, an anti-Muslim display of intolerance. Say what? Yep, that's what I said. When Chris brought it to my attention, I couldn't help but laugh. How, I wondered, could anyone with their head screwed on straight see this as insulting to Muslims? It's a stretch...a SERIOUS stretch, but I suppose it is possible- if you stare at it long enough.
To me, the strip is like a Rohrschach test. Stare at it long enough, and you'll see something- even if it isn't really there. I see nothing in this comic strip that is insulting or demeaning to Muslims. In fact, the only thing Johnny Hart is guilty of is not being funny. The comic strip really isn't funny- period- but Hart certainly is not guilty of demeaning Islam or those who practice it.
Perhaps it's just that his reputation precedes him. Hart, a born-again evangelical Christian, has gotten into trouble before for using B.C. to promote his religious viewpoint. He has professed to being stunned that anyone would interpret the comic strip in question as anti-Islam, and I'm going to have to agree with him on this one.
To those of you who see an insult in the strip, I would counsel you to WAKE UP AND SMELL THE CAT LITTER. Get over yourselves, already. Johnny Hart may not be funny, but he is not insulting you. There are plenty of other places where you can go to find insults and discrimination without having to invent them out of whole cloth. This is not one of them.